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Afghan women express apprehension over peace with Taliban

As
the US reached “at the threshold of an agreement” with the Taliban after ninth
round of peace talks between the US’ Special Representative for Afghanistan
Reconciliation- Zalmay Khalilzad and representatives of the militant group in
Doha, vulnerable Afghans, particularly women, have become increasingly
concerned about the consequences of such a likely agreement. The marathon
direct talks, however, faces uncertainty after US President Donald Trump called
off the talks in a series of tweets posted on Sunday morning. “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace
negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly
strengthen their bargaining position?” he tweeted about his secretly scheduled
meeting with representatives of Taliban and President Ashraf Ghani at Camp
David while challenging the Taliban how many more decades were they willing to
fight.

Trump’s decision of calling off the peace negotiations,
however, was warmly welcome by most ordinary Afghans as they widely appreciated
the decision on social media. The Afghan government also reacted to the news
tweeting that “genuine peace is possible when the Taliban stop the killing of
Afghans, embrace an inclusive ceasefire, and enter into direct negotiations
with the Afghan government.”

To
reflect the apprehension felt by the Afghan women, Etilaat-e-Roz reporter
Maliha Kazemi spoke to several Afghan women and asked them whether peace with
the Taliban poses any threat to the basic freedom of Afghan women.

Many
women have emerged and made great achievements in the past 18 years, after the
overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001. A majority of these women have grown
in the past years along with their basic rights.

Bahar Sohaili, a women’s rights activist, who left Kabul after the Taliban came into power in 1996, believes that the return of the Taliban is a regression for women in Afghanistan. “Women will be isolated and confined to their homes,” she noted.

“Women will be isolated and confined to their homes,”

she noted.

Contrary
to the Taliban rule (1996-2001), many Afghan women are now studying, working
outside and are financially independent.

Zahra Yeganeh, a civil society activist from Kabul has grave concerns regarding the Taliban’s return. “The Taliban’s return reminds me back of the 1990s, the decade in which the women could not go out without the permission of their husbands, could not travel without a [male] companion, and did not have the right to get education and work,” she stated.

“The Taliban’s return reminds me back of the 1990s, the decade in which the women could not go out without the permission of their husbands, ”

Yeganeh said.

Mina Rezaee, founder of Simple Café in Kabul city, believes that every transformation like peace with the Taliban would impact her work and activities. “The Taliban’s return is very concerning for us, the women. Women will be a victim of the negotiations which increases my pessimism,” she noted, stressing that Afghan women rights and freedoms were currently fragile.

“The Taliban’s return is very concerning for us, the women. Women will be a victim of the negotiations which increases my pessimism,”

Mina noted.

Mina
expressed concern that the Taliban did not adhere to people’s civil liberties.
“Probably, we will not be able to practice our civil liberties like what to
wear in terms of clothing, where we go, and we will not have our current
freedoms,” she said.

She, however, warned that the women of Afghanistan will
not remain silent if the Taliban returns and start imposing restrictions on women.

Sara Rezaee, a saleswoman in Kabul, is concerned that the
Afghan society would become more conservative with the Taliban’s return to
power. “I’m concerned that the society will return to its old belief which saw
men as superior [than women], when the Taliban did not have the right to make
decision and speak,” she stated.

She asks the government to assure that the Taliban will
not make a comeback, adding that there was no change in the Taliban. “Why do they
continue their attacks and explosions, if they want peace,” Sara questioned.

Describing the Taliban as a terrorist group, Bahar Sohaili,
says that the Taliban was not thinking of anything else other than spreading violence
and killings.

Zahra Yeganeh expressed her doubts over the likely
commitments of the Taliban in a peace accord, clarifying that “the Taliban
would probably return to extreme believes and misogynic approach of the Islamic
Emirate.”

Besides the different rounds of direct talks between the
United States and the Taliban, representatives of the militant group have also
attended three intra-Afghan talks with the Afghan politicians. The third
intra-Afghan talks was held a few months ago in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Original Link: https://kabulnow.af/2019/09/afghan-women-express-apprehension-over-peace-with-taliban/

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